


The picture is always bigger, we just don't know it yet

by Huggy6ear_Angel



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, More tags as I go, Supernatural Elements, Supernatural Lore, Vampires, Work In Progress, human!ian
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-07-05 22:48:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,542
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15873273
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huggy6ear_Angel/pseuds/Huggy6ear_Angel
Summary: A high school student, Ian, has to move from New York to Los Angeles. Right, nothing wrong there. Except, a few days before leaving he sees a vampire. But vampires aren't supposed to be real, right? So, Ian convinces his dad to make the move a roadtrip, passing through as many states as possible so he can look for these creatures he never before believed were a real thing. As he goes, Ian finds out that not much information he knew from movies are true and he decides to keep a notebook with the new, true facts he gathers.





	The picture is always bigger, we just don't know it yet

**Author's Note:**

> Hello reader who decided to give me a shot. Keep in mind time passes in an odd manner in this world.

A common New York night, with the moon on the rise but barely any stars visible. Ian was walking home after track practice. He walked slow, legs barely holding up his weight. He was scrolling through instagram even though his hands were shaking. A bit light headed, every muscle in his body vibrating. Damn it the new trainer was good but brutal. He had taken it up to himself to exterminate the weak, he had said. Ian had laughed at first, but now he figured the coach was probably telling the truth.  
“You don’t have to come tomorrow, but I suggest you do”, he told the team that night. Well screw that, Ian thought. I am going.

His dad had called earlier in the afternoon, he had important news to tell Ian. Whatever, it could wait a bit longer. Right now the only thing on Ian’s mind was how good a cold shower would feel on his burning body. He walked past his best friend’s house and out of habit lifted his gaze to look through the window even though the curtains were almost always closed. Yuri was probably still at practice. 

They had started together when they were 12 years old, that’s how they met, but Yuri had advanced sooner than Ian, and that was only fair since she was the best goddamn athlete Ian had ever seen. But that meant they didn’t have practice together anymore. He should text her tonight, he thought.

He reached his house and used his keys to enter. “What’s for dinner, dad?” he asked when he spotted his father stirring something in a pot. The man turned abruptly to face Ian. Right, Ian never bothered to announce when he was home. He was very used to entering an empty house, day and night.  
“Well, I did have something in my mind when I put the stuff in, but we will see what comes out”, his dad answered as soon as he recovered from the shock. Ian chuckled and went to his room to abandon his bag. He re-entered the kitchen and stood beside the cook, leaning some of his weight on a chair. “So… what news do you bring?” Ian asked. A part of him hoped it was news from his mom, maybe she was coming back from the battlefield, but another part of him hoped it was nothing too important.  
“Oh no, go shower. We’ll talk when the food is ready.” his dad dismissed him and Ian backed away from the kitchen deep in thought. 

Damn how right was he. A cold shower was the perfect remedy for tired muscles, and this particular day had been an extremely hot one during an unusually hot May, so he really did not want to leave the soothing running water.

He at last got tired of standing, wrapped a towel around his whole body, and picked up his sweaty clothes from the floor where he had dumped them to throw them in the laundry basket which was approximately 2 feet away. Whatever… He put on underwear which he had of course brought in the bathroom with him. Growing up with an army dad did include some weird house rules.

He went to his room with the towel protecting his back from the vicious night breeze that could in fact cause pneumonia and before sitting down to check, snapchat and whatsapp, he opened his practice bag to take out his shoes and any other wet clothes he may had forgotten. Again, a habit he was raised to follow. Especially clothes, his dad was very particular about Ian taking care of his clothes. Finally Ian let himself fall to his bed backwards, grabbing his phone from the desk where he had dumped it earlier. He tapped on the apps to see what his friends had been up to while he was sweating his ass off at practice. 

He scrolled and scrolled and then at some point his dad called him to come eat. He let his arm go limp and hang off the side of the bed, sighing deep with a groan to express distaste. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to go eat, nor that he didn’t trust his dad’s skills at cooking, or even that he didn’t want to hear the important news. He just was so comfy in his bed and tired and probably a bit dehydrated.

He pushed his weight up using his arms, and then went to meet his dad sitting at the table. A full plate already waiting for him. It wasn’t very often that he wasn’t responsible for making dinner so he enjoyed these spare days where his dad was home early and took care of that. A lot of times when Ian knew he was going to be home alone or was just too tired to make something, he just settled for cereal.

They ate in tense silence. Ian occasionally staring at his dad trying to read his expression or to make him talk, unsuccessfully. His curiosity was getting the better of him and every bite became a more and more conscious action since he could feel every miniscule nerve on his body.  
“Tell me!”, he snapped and chewed down his bite, leaving his plate half finished. His dad slowly put down his fork and looked at Ian. “I’m being relocated”, he said.

A gigantic weight that had been crushing down Ian’s ribs and lungs was suddenly lifted. He exhaled loudly and nodded. “Okay. You didn’t have to make me lose 20 years off my life. I thought it was about mom, you know maybe…” he looked down without completing his sentence. “Or that you were sent back.” He picked up his fork again and continued eating, now relaxed and with more appetite. His dad looked sorry that he had worried Ian so much but didn’t say anything. Ian continued “Okay. So we’re moving, I assume. Where to?” His dad leaned back on his chair and with a sigh replied “Los Angeles”.

\---

“No Yuri, it’s not a “oh that’s cool, I love Cali” kind of situation. When he said he was relocated I assumed like a state away, maybe two. Not to the furthest place possible.”, Ian said to Yuri who was on the other side of the line, still at practice, completing the session with 20 minutes slow, “rest” run.  
“Yeah, but you have to admit, you’re excited.”, she said.  
“Of course I am, it’s Los fucking Angeles. That is not the point. We have one more year left to finish high school. And I have to move to a new school, in a new state, where I will know nobody and do as well as possible for SATs. And it will be too hot to run comfortably all year around. It doesn’t sound like the best deal out there.” Yuri laughed messing up her rhythm and going out of breath.  
“You did plan on applying to colleges in California, though, right?”  
“Yeah… I still haven’t told my dad that I want to major in literature, so…”  
“What other alternatives do you have? Can you live on your own, here?”, she tried to rationalise the matter.  
“Oh yes, because New York apartments are so affordable.”, Ian replied, the sarcasm oozing through the phone. “You’ve seen my place. We can only afford it because my dad is a veteran and my mom is still at war.”  
“Moving in with your grandparents again?”  
“Up in Vermont? I thought about it but I would still have to move. I won’t be able to make it every day back and forth. I might as well go with my dad then.”, Ian fell on his bed with a sigh. He had one month to decide what to do. A few days after exams, his dad had to be in California.  
“Dude I think you only have one option. Los Angeles.”, Yuri said after a small pause. Ian, on the other side of the line made himself comfortable on his bed and nodded even though Yuri couldn’t see him. She was right. “Okay, I’ll let you finish up.” he said and after a short goodnight they hang up.

\--

With finals coming up Ian was obligated to skip practice most days. He wasn’t happy about it, but he wanted to maintain his grades and the new trainer, as much as Ian appreciated him, was impossible to keep up with. A whole week passed and Ian had spend almost every waking hour bent over a book studying. And on Friday evening, he thought to himself, screw it, I want to go run my heart’s worth today. And so, he went on practice.

He liked to think of himself as someone with above average physical endurance, but boy did he feel like dying right now. Walking home, as usual, except today he didn’t even have the strength to check Instagram. He just focused on putting one foot in front of the other and not letting his knees buckle under his weight. He didn’t like feeling like this, it made him feel weak. He knew pushing your limits was the only way to progress but still, it angered him that his body couldn’t take it as easy as he would like to. He hadn’t yet felt hunger tingle his stomach but he would probably not even eat, he would jump head first to bed and hopefully wake up three days later. Passing Yuri’s home, he lifted his gaze up and soon enough he was approaching his block.

Just as he made a turn, he saw in the corner of his eye a couple making out on a dark alley, on the other side of the road, scoffed and his mind raced to the book he had on his desk.  
Except… it didn’t really look like a couple making out. He contemplated if he should turn to look but his body wasn’t really listening and his legs stopped walking before his thought was complete. He turned his head and for a brief second he knew exactly what he saw, a vampire drinking blood from her victim. But the very next second he didn’t really believe that. I mean, the dude seemed to enjoy it. No, these aren’t fangs… And the blood dripping to the man’s shirt? Well… No, it’s not a vampire. It can’t be. Can it be?

He started walking again and for some reason he couldn’t yet rationalise, he walked faster than before.

 

In the safety of his house Ian sat down on the couch, exhausted from practice but any thoughts of sleep completely forgotten. He spinned his phone in his hand, round and round, his mind racing, trying to grasp reality. He picked up his laptop, opened twitter and after making a tweet he searched the word vampire.

Wow, that was very unhelpful. Pictures of actors he recognised but couldn't identify, sketches, fanfiction links, imagines, gifs, video clips popped up and Ian recognised every single one of them to be referencing pop culture. That was not what he was looking for. He tried the words real vampire, but that was equally fruitless. A lot of kinky stuff popped up this time, pictures of dumbasses piercing their skin and then licking up the blood, photos of a bar. Goddamn twitter is full of shit, Ian thought. He closed the app and tried to think of other places to look. How about tumblr? he thought. Nah, that would give him the same results but kinkier. He clicked on youtube and got immediately distracted by the new uploads of the channels he was subscribed to. He swore he would continue research right after the new meme review video.

Unsurprisingly, youtube was full of fake videos, fan edits, movie clips, and conspiracy theories. These last ones Ian watched with great enthusiasm. He watched about a dozen but he realised after the fifth video they were either mostly the same or they heavily contradicted each other. One thing most had in common was referencing reddit posts. So he had his next research destination.

His sweat had dried on him and made him feel slightly cold and very sticky but he didn't care. He didn't feel hungry either, so he was free to continue down the rabbit hole of reddit. A lot of stories he read seemed real enough. But of course he had spent the early hours of his night scrolling twitter, anything was more realistic than that. A lot of stories were similar to his own experience and then just as he was getting tired he saw a sketch. It was the woman he saw in the alley, it was the vampire he saw. 

When he finally closed his browser it was 4:30am and he thought his eyes were bleeding and his brain throbbing from the information overload. He turned his laptop off and placed it on the table. He lied on his side right there on the couch and surrendered to sweet sleep.

His alarm woke him up at a cruel 7am not giving a damn that Ian had barely gotten 2.5 hours of sleep. He sat up with a groan cursing himself for not showering last night and for sleeping in such a horrible position. He got up and tested which muscles were sore. He stretched his arms above his head and let go of a deep breath he was holding. He took a few steps and realised that apparently every muscle on his body ached. He huffed in annoyance and dropped to the floor for 20 morning push ups. Yeah, he was that kind of person.

He didn’t think about vampires for a whole week, his entire brain power concentrating in studying and then one late night, while he was scrolling through instagram to fall asleep, an advertisment popped up. It was about cosplayers and just as Ian was letting go of consciousness an idea raced his thoughts so quick he didn’t manage to grasp it but it was enough to jerk him awake once again. _There must be vampires all over the world then._ Ian turned to leave his phone on the floor under his bed and re-positioned his body for sleep. _There must be vampires all over America then._

And the idea was now planted in his head.

In the morning, Ian opened a map of the usa on his laptop and visualised how he could pass from as many states as possible to get to California. After a few attempts he had the whole trip planned. He drew a quick sketch of the country, the states were way out of proportion but it didn’t really matter and went to find his dad to get him on board.

Ian knew that moving meant no vacation time for his dad, so what they could do was drive to Los Angeles and make it a sort of road trip. His dad wasn’t entirely negative but he did warn Ian his superiors may not agree. Ian made sure to tell him he wanted to stay at least one night in every state they passed. His dad had nodded hesitantly before leaving for work.

Ian picked up an empty notebook and started keeping notes, mostly so he wouldn’t forget.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. If you would like you could write me a comment, I do in fact read and reply to all of them.  
> If you want you can follow Ian on twitter @Ian__6 to follow his journey across the states.


End file.
